2008 Woodie Awards
Nationwide nurse shortage affects program at PSUC
Antonio Graves
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: News
Originally published: 11/29/07 at 6:26 PM EST
Last update: 11/29/07 at 6:25 PM EST
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Ring the alarm!
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be a national shortage of registered nurses that is estimated to reach 450,000 by 2008 and 1.2 million by 2014.
The shortage in Plattsburgh has extended to Plattsburgh State's nursing faculty - without registered nurses, there can be no future nursing professors, which would greatly damage the nurse education program.
At PSUC, there are already two vacant faculty spots, and according to the recent study, there will be more to come.
An assistant professor of medical surgical nursing is needed to teach in a classroom, and another is needed to oversee students in the skills lab in Hawkins Hall.
The skills lab provides students with a mock-hospital setting for training, and comes equipped with hospital beds and computer-controlled mannequins, which are able to provide feedback to students.
As a result of the staff vacancies, more than 147,000 students were rejected from various nursing programs around the country, according to the National League for Nursing.
Many students who applied to PSUC's nursing program met the same fate.
Since there are only nine members on the nursing staff, the nursing program has to be limited to just over 200 students.
"When I came to Plattsburgh State, I had to wait a year to get into the nursing program," PSUC nursing major Krista Tetreault said. "It's frustrating because you want to do what you can to help the profession and they're telling you that you can't."
In the 1980s, there were 400 students in the nursing program and 18 members on the faculty. The number on staff was proportioned to the number of students.
"If we had about 12 on staff, we could easily take in another 60 to 80 students," David Curry, associate professor in surgical nursing, said. "That would really help us fill some spots later on in the future, since statistics say the average faculty member is 57 years old and near retirement."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be a national shortage of registered nurses that is estimated to reach 450,000 by 2008 and 1.2 million by 2014.
The shortage in Plattsburgh has extended to Plattsburgh State's nursing faculty - without registered nurses, there can be no future nursing professors, which would greatly damage the nurse education program.
At PSUC, there are already two vacant faculty spots, and according to the recent study, there will be more to come.
An assistant professor of medical surgical nursing is needed to teach in a classroom, and another is needed to oversee students in the skills lab in Hawkins Hall.
The skills lab provides students with a mock-hospital setting for training, and comes equipped with hospital beds and computer-controlled mannequins, which are able to provide feedback to students.
As a result of the staff vacancies, more than 147,000 students were rejected from various nursing programs around the country, according to the National League for Nursing.
Many students who applied to PSUC's nursing program met the same fate.
Since there are only nine members on the nursing staff, the nursing program has to be limited to just over 200 students.
"When I came to Plattsburgh State, I had to wait a year to get into the nursing program," PSUC nursing major Krista Tetreault said. "It's frustrating because you want to do what you can to help the profession and they're telling you that you can't."
In the 1980s, there were 400 students in the nursing program and 18 members on the faculty. The number on staff was proportioned to the number of students.
"If we had about 12 on staff, we could easily take in another 60 to 80 students," David Curry, associate professor in surgical nursing, said. "That would really help us fill some spots later on in the future, since statistics say the average faculty member is 57 years old and near retirement."
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